Page 45 of Mountain Grump Protector

I can’t meet her eyes. “Talk about what?”

“Whatever has you so twisted up right now?” she says quietly. “I’m a good listener.”

Even having just met her, I know that’s true. But there’s no way I can tell Lilly that the real cause of all my trouble, my brother, is hiding in Cal’s garage, only a few feet from where he and Luke are probably standing.

I can’t tell her how I’m keeping secrets from the only man who’s ever cared enough to help me. Cal’s the only man I’ve ever been able to picture a future with, and I’m risking it all.

Hot tears prick at my eyes, but I blink them back and blow out a breath.

“You know,” Lilly says softly after a moment of silence. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned about these mountain men, it’s that they can handle anything we throw at them.”

I force myself to meet her eyes. “Anything?”

“Pretty much.” She laughs softly. “Especially for the women they let into their hearts.”

Their hearts?

“I don’t know if⁠—”

“What they don’t like,” she cuts me off smoothly, “is surprises.”

For a second, I’m convinced she can see right through me, and maybe she can. But her expression stays kind and open.

My gaze drifts toward the garage before I can stop myself.

Immediately, I regret it because Lilly’s gaze follows mine.

“Whatever it is,” she says quietly. “Trust that Cal can handle it, because he can.”

Before I can respond, the shop door opens, and Luke steps out into the yard. Cal is right behind him.

I see the moment he spots me sitting on the porch, and his face lights up with a broad smile. He looks happy and relaxed, and the sight of it makes my stomach flip.

Because all I can think about is how quickly that’s going to change when he finds out what I’ve done.

Cal

Luke’s leaning against the porch railing with a beer in his hand, while I flip burgers on the grill.

When we’d finally joined the women on the porch, it was easy to see how well they were getting along, and it had been such a long time since things had felt normal, whatever the hell that is, that we decided to have an impromptu cookout.

Besides, I owed my buddy a thank you for grabbing the cash for me so I didn’t have to leave the mountain. And Willow.

I close the lid on the grill and reach for my own beer, scanning the yard where the women are throwing the ball, again, for the dog.

“That dog is unhinged,” Luke observes.

“You’re just jealous because the girls like him.”

“Fair.” He shakes his head with a laugh.

Across the yard, both women throw their heads back in laughter as the dog bounces between them. I can’t stop watching them. Okay, I can’t stop watching Willow.

And thinking about what it would be like if she stayed.

The last few days had changed something between us. Hell, they’d changed something in me.

Willow isn’t only the woman I rescued from the Rusty Nail anymore. She isn’t the girl with the terrible family and the debt that never should have belonged to her in the first place.